@ Sunday Times Books LIVE

Cat Hellisen, Author of When the Sea is Rising Red, Explains Her “Hobverse”

Cat Hellisen spoke to Tonight‘s Nerine Dorman about her book, When the Sea is Rising Red, which was released overseas in February. Hellisen has created a magical world that she calls the “Hobverse”. She explained the complexities of this world to Dorman and discussed the impact that growing up under apartheid has had on her work.

With names such as Lauren Beukes,SL Grey and Lily Herne paving the way for South African genre fiction, and making an international footprint, it’s good to know we can add another name to that list.

Cat Hellisen, a Cape Town author, celebrated the foreign release of her young adult fantasy novel When the Sea is Rising Red (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) at the end of February and has created a world filled with magic and fascinating characters, with a seaborne peril that visits the mythical city of Pelimburg.